Overlord: Hand of Greed
by NinesOwnGoal
Summary: A fanfic written to be as canon friendly as possible as a side story in the Overlord storyline. With the Sorcerous Kingdom freshly founded, Ainz is now faced with his first anomaly in his kingdom, a team of adventurers, 'Fallen Light', have been found scouting his territory. Curiosity piqued, it's time for Momon to face off against a very dangerous talent holder.
1. Chapter 1

**Overlord: Hand of Greed**

**Chapter 1**

In the days of YGGRSIL, players were restricted to only having one in game avatar. This was a feature of the game purposely implemented by the devs and while it was mildly infuriating to the players, it did make things easier. Outside of spells such as Perfect Warrior, there wasn't many ways to variate a player's fighting style to such a degree as to be of much surprise to anybody who had already faced them in battle. For example, a player who had specialized heavily in the tank role could not return to the next round of fighting as thief or mage class. This in turn made PvP battles much easier, as a truly skilled player could not simply rotate through different avatars to fight as whatever their opponent was weak to. This also had the added bonus of forcing players to band together as a team of two well rounded players against two specialized players would almost always result in the defeat of the former.

In this world however, finding such specialized talents was truly rare.

Unlike the game world of YGGRSIL, people of the New World put far more value into their lives and therefore less value in the trust of their teammates.

It wasn't that they could be truly blamed for this, as it was, a party wipe in YGGRSIL was fairly common, especially against powerful enemies like raid bosses. While it was annoying and especially frustrating for the loss of items and xp, it was never an unrecoverable loss. Such an event in this new world would naturally come with a much more dire cost.

As his time as Momon, Ainz had met a lot of individuals from the Adventure's Guild. While none of them had been particularly impressive, Ainz had watched them as a senior would see novice players. Those of Mithril rank and above he felt had at least some modicum of talent but even that potential seemed to be wasted on their pursuit of more moderately rounded skill sets.

One such team, known as the Mithril adventurer party, 'Fallen Light', was currently promptly knelt before the throne of the Sorcerer King in capital city of E-Rantel.

"You may rise." Ainz announced from his throne, raising his skeletal hand to the group.

"Thank you, King Gown-sama." Replied Jeste

From what Ainz could gather since their sudden arrival, Fallen Light consisted of seven members, of which Jeste was the leader and priest. A stern yet kind hearted man, he was tall, blond and donned ragged priestly robes. The others were the warriors; Buckthorne, Gambe and Derris, all armour clad veterans of their respective fighting styles, the group's mage, Amithal, Tonk the thief and Grey, the group's ranger. Each of them rose in near unison as a party used to royal audience.

"I am told you were discovered by my patrols scouting the areas around E-Rantel. Explain yourselves."

The matter had caught Ainz's attention rather quickly. If they were scouting for the location of Nazarick for the Re-Estize Kingdom, that would surely mean that an army was not far behind them in the future. After the display at Katze, the Kingdom would be either mad to challenge him again so soon or...

_... they may have gained the support of the player who had use world items to attack Shalltear._

"Apologies for the intrusion Your Highness, but we have been hired by the guild in Re-Estize to hunt the bandit Rastil." Jeste explained rather calmly. Although he seemed a modest, almost impoverished man he didn't seem at all phased to be royal court. "His track led us over the border and into the Sorcerous Kingdom. It would appear that he and his band have disappeared into the forest of Tob."

"Is that so?" Ainz fumed.

As his time as Momon, Ainz had acquired knowledge on the general power structure of the guild. Bandits generally fell between Silver and Gold tier adventurers, with the higher ranks, like Mithril, reserved for far more dangerous monsters.

If Albedo or Demiurge had been here, perhaps they would've had more insight into the situation but as it was both of them were away on missions themselves and Ainz was reluctant to use the [Message] spell.

It was less that they would think that Ainz was incompetent, more the concern that they would take the matter as some kind of cruel test of their intelligence.

Suzuki the salaryman knew only far too well the pressure the cruel games of management could put upon a working suit just trying to do his best and thus vowed to handle it himself.

"Then do tell, why is this bandit so important that the guild felt necessary to send adventurers of the Mithril rank? As I understand it, you are near the best adventurers at the guild's command, wouldn't you be better suited to fight high level monsters?"

"You are too kind, Your Grace, but the answer is that the bandit Rastil is extremely dangerous. He is a talent holder."

"A talent holder?" Ainz mused. "What kind of talent does he hold?"

"His talent is called [Enhancement Greed]." Jeste explained. "He is known to surround himself with magic casters who enhance his abilities with repeated casts of lesser protection magic. Unlike regular magic where a repeated cast would prolong the duration of the spell, spells cast upon Rastil increase duration and their effectiveness."

_What!? That's cheating!_

_A talent that allows him to stack the effects of enhancement magic!? That's insane!_

[Lesser Attack Boost] was a common 1st tier spell in YGGDRASIL, it was given to nearly all magic caster classes in the game at party of their starting loadout. Once cast upon a target, it would raise their basic attack value by 3% for 30 seconds and while it wasn't much, it was quite useful for backliners to help give the edge over some of the more troublesome low level bosses.

A lot of players still used it at level 100 in pvp for its low cast value and its statistical nature. After all, 3% of an attack value in the thousands was then more than enough to go back and one shot a lot of those starter bosses.

If it's effects could stack...

_3% becomes 6%, then 9%, 12%, 15%. Casting [Lesser Attack Boost] 100 times would make the target three times and strong._

Imagining one of TouchMe's critical hits being enhanced with x3 damage from a 1st Tier spell made Ainz unusually thankful to the shitty devs for not implementing such an unbalanced feature. YGGDRASIL would've been little more than a test of who could nuke the opposing time the hardest with damaged buffed super moves.

_I suppose it wouldn't be anything for me to worry about as my resistances should still count any of his attacks as low level, right?_

_But then if it surpassed the threshhold..._

_COULD SOME NOOB DAMAGE ME WITH 1ST TIER SPELLS!? THAT'S SO BROKEN!_

A calming aura took over as Ainz's frustration got it's usual reset.

_Then again..._

As a collector of rare items, having a such a rare talent at his fingertips was a very lucrative thought.

Could he use multiple casts of [Ironflesh] to make him as hard as Cocytus' exoskeleton? How many casts would it take? The effects stack but is there not a limit? Would his body break down or would his mind break first under such magical pressure?

Nazarick had learned so much through the experiments they had performed on the new worlders, to get the chance to research the possibility of limitless power...

_Perhaps then Nazarick could be safe from the unknown._

_No, no. I'm getting ahead of myself. There is a very high probability that these adventurers are simply misinformed. Deceiving your opponents is the first rule of PvP._

Curiosity once more brimmed the light with his sockets.

_Still, I must see this talent holder for myself._

"Very well." Ainz announced, raising his hand to the air in practised regal form. "I shall allow you to hunt this bandit, Rastil, within my territory..."

It may have just been a trick of the light, but Ainz swore he saw the entire party slouch just a little from their stiff, bowed positions.

"... upon one condition."

The whole party stiffened back up again.

"Since this, Rastil, has intruded onto my territory, it is only fitting that I send a task force to eliminate such brigades. In which case, I would very much like to send one of my subordinates to accompany you."

Turning his imposing gaze to the side for a brief moment, the maid to the left of throne room eagerly trotted to open a side door.

In strolled a figure they had all met only once before.

"Momon shall be aiding you on your quest."

"Oh but sir-" Jeste spoke up, only for his words to be stopped in their tracks.

"You wouldn't be so foolish as to enter my court and try to deny my right as king now, would you?" The indomitable menace of the tiger's fangs aura'd around his kingly presence as he commanded the room into submission.

"No! Of course not, King Gown. I only worry that with such a high profile adventurer accompanying us, we might not be recognised for the reward..."

"Ah, I see, yes, that would be troublesome." Ainz took his boney hand to his chin. "Well, fear not, as I shall be sending Momon with you in secret. I do not wish to make public that brigades are roaming my territory. The story will go that you caught him as he attempted to cross into my territory and none need know the difference."

_Come to think of it, how haven't my patrols caught him anyway?_

_I suppose if he's not from around here then it would make sense that he's not wanted in E-Rantel and as long as he's not currently breaking any laws then my patrols won't classify him as criminal._

_I was lucky that it was demonkin that stumbled upon the adventurers as they might have slipped under the radar too._

_I hadn't really considered it too much before but now that I think about it using Undead as patrol forces might be a bit more problematic than I imagined._

"Then it would be our honour for host him on this quest, King Gown!"

"Very good." Ainz relaxed on his throne. "One last question for you, the request you took from the guild for this job, what did it say exactly?"

"'Defeat the bandit Rastil and return the hostage'." Jeste repeated from memory.

"'Defeat'? Not 'kill'?"

"I believe so, King Gown."

"Then you will be satisfied if he is defeated and entered into my custody then? It will satisfy the terms of your request, no?"

"I do not understand the difference but I hold no objection, King Gown. So long as we get to return the hostage then the terms of our contract will be satisfied."

"Very good. Then you understand your mission, Pand- errr, Momon? You are to accompany these adventures to aid in the defeat and capture of the bandit Rastil. This mission is to be carried out discretely and he is to be returned to the custody of the Sorcerous Kingdom."

"Yes, I understand."

"You vowed to me that you would put down any criminal activity that arose in this city, I believe this falls into that domain." Waving his mighty, kingly hand, Ainz announced his lines, hoping to keep Momon's cover in front of the meagrely ranked adventuring party. In the future they may prove to be a useful connection to have. "I am eager to see results from this."

"If you would permit me one question?" Pandora's Actor responded in a more deeply serious Momonic voice.

"Speak."

"When you say '(I) shall accompany them' do you mean 'I shall accompany them; or 'Momon shall accompany them"

"I mean you shall accompany them." Ainz realised just what Pandoras Actor was asking him. "I mean you-, I mean, Momon. Momon shall accompany them."

"Yes, of course." Momon dashed his head back down in affirmative, yet slowly rose it again. "Momon as in Momon the Black or Momon as in Momon of Darkness?"

"Err... M-Momon-..."

_How am I supposed to know which is which!?_

4


	2. Chapter 2

**Overlord: Hand of Greed**

**Chapter 02**

Being out on an adventure again was a welcome break for Ainz. Nazarick and the newly refurbished throne room of E-Rantel held many leisures and luxuries that only the most privileged would ever be so lucky as to even imagine.

However as an undead Ainz got to enjoy few of them.

The adventurer's life however, freedom on the road to camp under the stars, Ainz could appreciate such a carefree freedom. It was times like these that allowed his exhausted mind at least some degree of much needed relief and perhaps even a chance to recover.

"It's been too long since my last adventure." Ainz announced to himself in his Momonic voice. "Far too long."

Nabe sat beside him quietly, eyes closed and enjoying her master's presence in silence. With Ainz' role as Momon mostly over now that he announced his presence much more publicly to the world, Nabe, who was truly the most blessed of the Pleiades for being allowed to don a position so directly supportive of her master, now rarely got to enjoy the benefits of such a role.

"I agree Lor- Mr Momon, sir." She hummed passively in her usual stoic voice.

"Haven't I told you-" Momon stopped himself in mid-sentence. "I suppose it has been a while, hasn't it, Nabe? I can forgive you being a little out of practice, just be sure not to slip up in front of the others."

"Of course, my lord!"

Momon could only sigh to himself behind the helmet.

As it turned out, Fallen Light was little like the other team of adventurer's he had once accompanied, the Swords of Darkness. There was none of that silver plated joy around the campfire, the Mithril adventurers were all strict professionals at their craft.

They had pushed into the Great Forest of Tob at an almost alarming rate. It helped of course that most of the wildlife was under control thanks to Nazarick's subjugation of the forest, but Ainz doubted such creatures could have held back such gusto adventurers for long anyway.

They had marched until it was too dark to see, scouted a nearby clearing and had quickly gotten to work setting up a perimeter. Spells, traps, a look out post, the base site was well secured before tents started erecting. There was no laughter around a campfire, noise and light was kept to a minimal and after a few choice words from Jeste the party crept into their cots to be well rested to continue their march tomorrow. The efficiency with which they all moved was almost blinding.

Indeed, these were true professionals and this was a job. They acted less like comrades and more like commandos.

_I guess it must be different for them to have to face their own mortality every day._

Still, they lacked a certain warmth that the Swords of Darkness had accustomed him too.

Momon was hoping to learn more about the party and the target as the adventure carried on, but their methodical mechanical way of operating had left little room for discussion. Ainz was also hoping to probe them for more information on talents and their holders.

The whole situation reminded him of the days Suzuki Satoru would be forced to deal with customer service agents on the phone. Their friendly tones only seemed to go as deep as their faces as they tried to hurry him along for the next person in line.

"I have to admit, it's good to see you again, Master Momon." A bold, strong voice crept out of the darkness behind the foilage the pair were sitting on.

From behind the fallen tree the pair were calmly sat upon came a scruffy looking man clad in shiny, metal armour. He didn't look scruffy in the sense that he was dirty by any means, only in the sense that was a veteran of several battlefields and had long since opted for the practical instead of the pretty.

Between his thick, bushy beard and the small selection of scars on his face, he almost looked like a bandit inside the warrior's costume. Straps of leather poked out here and there from beneath the armour plates. It was far from Momon's knightly armour, but it told tale of a warrior none the less.

"Buckthorne, if I'm not mistaken?" Momon summoned the memory of their introduction to Ainz in the throne room to identify the man.

"Ah! I must admit, I'm surprised you remember me, Master Momon. Your battle with Jaldabaoth is nay something we may forget but to think you'd remember an old goat like me. I'm truly honoured."

_That's right, I have seen him before. He was amongst the adventuring parties who took part in the battle in the capital._

"What may we do for you?" Momon pondered, curious as to the sudden approach.

"Oh, nothing so important, I only noticed you weren't sleeping. If I passed on the chance to talk combat with such an esteemed warrior as the mighty Momon of Darkness I'd be as big a fool as the rest of these dolts."

"Aren't you tired?" Momon asked curiously. "Your comrades seem exhausted from the trek through the forest."

"Oh, don't worry about me, I was in the army, you know?" Buckthorne chuckled. "Them damn noble whoresons whipped us harder than this!"

"Is that so?" Truth be told, Ainz had no realistic knowledge of how far he a mortal soldier could march, the only armies he had deployed had been the tireless undead whom he could march day and night endlessly to their next objective.

Perhaps it was something worth making a mental note of for future reference.

"How about you though, Master Momon? Even with your adamantite conditioning, I'm surprised you can march all this way with that heavy plate armour on."

Was that impressive or suspicious? Ainz wasn't sure.

"Oh, I've grown quite accustomed to this armour now. I rarely take it off any more, I see it more as part of who I am."

"One with your equipment?" Buckthrone smiled approvingly. "I wish I had such harmony with my gear. Tonk is always complaining about the racket I make when I swing my sword around."

Momon looked back on the eerily quiet encampment once more as he thought about the questions swimming inside his skull.

Nabe followed his gaze back to trace whatever her master was watching.

"Are you and the others... are you close?" Momon asked curiously.

"Hmmm, picked up on that did you? Trust a warrior of your calibre to notice such a thing." Buckthorne smiled back, obviously stalling for time as he considered his options. "Each of them is nice enough I suppose, except maybe Gray, but it's true enough that I don't bother to see any of them outside of work."

"Did something happen?" Momon continued.

"Not so much a something per say." Buckthorne paused for a moment to consider his answer, giving a gentle stroke to his beard as he pondered. "We are what you would call a 'second party'. We all started out the same; copper plates with dreams and ambitions bigger than the muscle of our arms but..." The smile that donned his face seemed to fade a little in the moonlight. "... truth be told, I'm the only member of my first party to have made it this far. It's the same for the others too."

"Oh." Ainz wasn't entirely sure how to respond to such a dark revelation. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Ah, don't be, it's not your fault. I'm sure you've lost your fair share of comrades, it can't always have just been you and the Lady Nabe." Forcing the smile through his face to brighten the mood a little, the downtrodden expression of a grizzled old man made Suzuki look away under his helmet. "Little copper plates don't know the ride they're in for, signing up with the guild thinking they're going to go on some grand adventure and win fame and fortune. I've been doing this for years now, I'm still dirt poor and I think you might be the only person who has ever remembered my name."

"Why don't you retire?" Ainz pondered.

"Ha, fighting monsters is the only skill this damned world is willing to pay me for." Looking back at the silent encampment behind them, Buckthorne almost seemed sad to look at it. "To answer your question: when you're in this deep you stop making friends and start making money."

The memories of a friendless wandering Momonga crossed Ainz's mind again.

_I almost quit YGGDRASIL, didn't I? If I hadn't run into TouchMe that day I probably would of. YGGDRASIL was a vast world of endless exploration and dungeons, it was an amazing thing really, but it was the company of you all who made the journeys truly dear to me._

_With my guildmates we charted territories unknown, embarked upon distant shores and explored the depths of the world. That's how you found Nazarick in the first place, wasn't it, Nishikienrai?_

Kill quests were fairly common in YGGDRASIL, but to use the adventurers as nothing more than a company of monster hunting mercenaries did detract a little from the word 'adventurer', didn't it?

_I guess that makes us the real adventurers._

"So tell me something." Ainz wondered behind the black facade. "This bandit we are chasing, is he very famous?"

"Not particularly." Buckthorne stroked his beard in thought. "He usually sticks to the mountain ranges and harasses trade between the Empire and the dwarves. From what I've heard the Kingdom has been more than happy to leave him alone until recently. There was even rumours some of the nobles might have been supporting his raids."

"Oh? Am I correct to assume that situation has changed then?"

"Well no, not exactly. It's not so much even the man himself we're after, we're mostly chasing after the hostage he's taken."

"Oh? Are they important?"

"Well she's the youngest daughter of the noble who put the request in. Rastil hasn't even put in any demands for her yet, so I can't imagine she's faired very well, but getting her back in the best condition possible is the top priority of this mission."

_So it's a rescue mission._

That made a bit more sense. Even as a talent holder, it was unusual for bandit hunting to be placed above a gold tier job.

Fighting other humans generally didn't fall into the guild's line of work too often. While it was not unheard of, Momon had rarely seen such missions posted with the guild. Then again, he also still couldn't read the language, it could be that the adventurers were just less boastful of them.

Banditry had been a bit of a problem in the early days of Ainz's rule over E-Rantel.

_The nobles are probably hoping he goes back to attacking the Empire's trade routes. If that's the case then he must have been doing some damage to earn their support like that._

But still...

"This noble you mentioned, do you know much about him?"

"Ahh, Lord Reike is a pain in the ass. He lords over a small farming village in the eastern territories. It got burnt down fairly recently so he's been up his own ass most the time running circles over it."

"Oh? Did this bandit attack it?"

"No, it was a while before all this." Buckthorne shrugged. "Something about demi-humans from the mountains on a night raid. They set fire to the fields and the houses got caught up in the blaze. Apparently they made undead of some of the patrolmen to cover their retreat."

_I didn't know demi humans launched raids like that. It might be wise to raise security around Carne._

As Ainz thought deeply on the situation, he was surprised to her the voice of a girl who had spent the whole conversation quietly watching.

"Lord Momon, may I inquire to know why we are accompanying these lowly adventurers?" The question surprised Buckthorne a little. "Surely the two of us could move much faster on our own."

"First and foremost, it is their contract to hunt this man and it is our duty as former fellow adventurers to honour their commitment." Momon nobly educated his companion. "Secondly, even if we were to hunt the bandit ourselves, we hold very little information about him. Having an experienced hunting party to track him is a great help to any attempt to catch him while he is at large in such a vast area."

Momon nodded in respect to the warrior sat with them in the forest, Buckthorne seemed to eagerly accept his role of usefulness to such an esteemed figure.

"But Lord Momon, could we not simply use the same scrolls we used in E-Rantel?" Pressing her inquiry, Nabe's unmoving face not once even bothered to glance at warrior who watch the conversation with increased curiosity.

"No." Momon answered. "To put it simply for you, the reason we were able to track the kidnappers so easily was due to the trophies they took. We have no information at all about this Rastil character to go off so tracking him down using magical means would be far more difficult. Besides..." Ainz's empty gaze shifted to Buckthorne beneath the black helmet. "I would rather not use such expensive magic items unless it was an absolute emergency."

"I heard of your use of magical items, Master Momon, I plan to venture out to see the gap in the forest some day myself, but to think you could use such things for tracking too!" Buckthorne seemed merrily impressed as he sang praises. "Now that's adamantite resourcefulness for you."

The rest of the night was spent chattering combat and blade techniques, although Ainz knew little Buckthorne proved more than eager to reveal his favourite slashes and parries, fully under the assumption that a warrior as legendary as Momon would already know such trivial move-sets. As the dim light of the moon began to wane, Buckthorne would finally retire to his tent for the morning march. Left to themselves once more, the two returned to silence as they looked up upon the night's sky. It would be another day's march before they would arrive at Rastil's predicted location and then the hunt could begin in earnest.

4


	3. Chapter 3

**Overlord: Hand of Greed**

**Chapter 03**

The morning came as clockwork and so too did the tireless march through the Great Forest of Tob.

With Gray, the ranger, out in front, Tonk, the thief led the group from some distance behind him. Gambe and Derris followed as the forward guard, Momon himself serving as the centre and behind him marched Jeste and the spellcasters, Nabe and Amithal with Buckthorne trailing behind to guard the rear.

All in all, it was a fairly decent formation. Leading with their ranger and thief meant faster path finding and early detection of any traps and keeping their primary firepower in the centre allowed them more flexibility to adapt quickly to any sudden changes or attacks.

While keeping to the back as their priest and healer, a vital lifeline for any group, Jeste made sure to keep a decent pace for the party as they made their way towards the next objective.

While they seemed to be as children at play compared to the great skills of his former guildmates, Ainz remained moderately impressed by the tactical cohesion between them. They made ground carefully, but they also made ground fast.

It was becoming nightfall as they reached the perimeter of their destination. A clearing that Gray seemed to know quite well that he suspected they would pick up the target's trail from.

With a simple raise of his hand, Gray stopped the rest of the party in their tracks and lowered them all down with him to a more crouched position amongst the flora.

"See something?" Jeste called ahead in a hushed tone.

"We're approaching the clearing." Scanning the area intensely, Gray's calm voice was probably mostly due to his distraction. "I'm not seeing any signs of activity. The tracks I've spotted look two or three days old at best."

"I've got nothing here either." Tonk confessed. "No sign of any trappings or tool work."

"Good, move in in pairs and secure the clearing." Jeste nodded to confirm his order.

This guy is starting to sound a like an army commander.

As Suzuki pondered on that thought, the group began to move as one around him.

Switching positions with the front, Gambe and Derris were the first to enter the clearing, shields raised high to protect themselves from any kind of undetected threat. Gray and Tonk followed them closely, arrow nocked and daggers in hand. Jeste and the far range support stayed hidden in the tree line guarded by Momon and Bucktorne.

The tension faded away when Gray finally signalled the all clear.

Dropping their guard a notch, Jeste wandered in to get an update from the team and after an approving nod from Buckthorne, Momon felt confident enough in a job well done to follow suite.

"So what have we got?" Jeste asked.

"Ashes in the grass here. A couple of indentations in the dirt, they've used some kind of platform to put the campfire on to hide their tracks but they've definitely been here." Gray gave his report confidently.

"How old?"

"Difficult to say. Can't have been before last rainfall or it would have washed the ashes away."

"Around the age of the footprints?"

"Most likely but they've done a much better job hiding their tracks in here, it's hard to tell from just this."

"Damn bandits."

Looking around, all Ainz could see was the undisturbed grass of the clearing around him coupled with the treeline. If anybody had ever camped here, there was certainly no visible sign of it.

_What are they seeing!?_

Momon felt incredibly fortunate for his adamantite status. The contracts of his calibre were never of the hide and seek variety. Calling him in meant a problem that was powerful enough to arrogantly announce it's presence to the world and welcome his challenge, he simply wasn't properly equipped for these track and trace missions.

Of course, he could just ask Aura where this bandit's camp was and save them all the trouble but watching how they worked was truly fascinating.

It reminded him of certain adventures he had once had with his own parties.

There was no such detailed hunting mechanics in YGGDRASIL, there was only so much that modern gaming could accomplish after all and rendering every single player's three day old footprints would have been a massive drain on the game's memory. Not to mention that those tracks would often lead to dead ends where players had just logged out anyway. However, that hadn't stopping him and his friends from enjoying a good player hunt, especially so in the swamplands that once surrounded Nazarick.

In a game with such a heavy focus on PvP in which information was such a valuable commodity, hunting and eliminating players exploring the area around your guild base was standard practice.

Ainz wondered that if he hadn't been alone in that one, life changing moment if him and his friends would have looked as Fallen Light did now.

"We would have shown them how it's done." He contemplated.

To them the people of this new world were truly children at play.

"Have you spotted something, Lord Momon?" Buckthorne was paying close attention to his esteemed idol.

"Lord Momon, is something bothering you?" Nabe's voice chased quickly after his.

"Oh, no, it's nothing. I was just thinking aloud for a moment." Momon responded as graciously as ever. "Nabe, I believe we have discussed you addressing me in such a-"

As he went about reminding her once more of their relationship of fellow, and equal, adventurers, Momon eyes couldn't help but be drawn off to perhaps the source of the problem.

While Nabe's absolute devotion was nothing to be taken so lightly, Buckthorne's eyes cast perhaps a similar determined gaze upon his jet black armour.

_Is she.. competing with him?_

It didn't seem as if Buckthorne had noticed anything amiss with Nabe's behaviour. A boon of them not having spoken until this mission, however it did leave Ainz in more precarious position.

_I suppose being around such professionals is having an effect on her too._

When he thought about to it, her creator, Nishikienrai, he had quite the competitive spirit to him as well. Ainz would always remember the day they took the Tomb of Nazarick, perhaps one of the proudest days of his life as his first day as guild leader, Nishikienrai and Warrior Takemikazuchi working so elegantly in both cooperation and competition to lay damage onto the final boss of the dungeon. Neither of them were going to back down, not to the boss nor each other but it was such friendly competition that made the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown so truly great.

Smiling just a little, only a bit to himself under the black helmet, Ainz looked upon the daughter of his friend with a certain touch of nostalgia for the people he now missed so dearly.

Remembering the ways in which Nishikienrai and Warrior Takemikazuchi would compete, the memories of his past presented him with the perfect answer to his dilemma.

"Please Buckthorne, we are fellow adventurers and comrades on this mission, just Momon will suffice."

To stop one he need only stop the other.

"Of course, what an honour to be considered a comrade of yours!" Buckthorne gleamed.

"Tch." Nabe blew out air through her teeth in disapproval of such pandering.

Ainz made a mental note to himself to remember to scold her about her attitude later in private.

Paying them no mind, with the competition brought to a halt, Nabe's bad behaviour should now correct itself in due time. Now though there was a slightly more pressing matter.

"Is there any clue as to where they might have went?" Momon called out to the tracking half of the team.

"Unfortunately I carry bad news." Jeste returned the sentiment as he strolled over to him. "Gray and Tonk have been unable to find anything to indicate where they might have went, I'm having them scout the area around the campsite but the way things are looking I wouldn't get our hopes up."

"Are they not fleeing back towards the mountains? Why not look for them there?" Nabe asked curiously up to her master.

"The mountains are as a maze." Jeste answered, much to Nabe's displeasure. "Between the nature of the landscape and the many tunnels the dwarves have dung through them they would be impossible to find without some kind of trail for us to follow."

"It is as Jeste says." Momon confirmed for her more characteristically. "The mountains are not our usual hunting grounds for such contracts and trying to hunt down prey on in foreign territories will prove difficult at best. We need to be careful in approaching this situation so as not to give our opponents the opportunity to slip us by or launch an ambus-"

The sound of arrows shot loose rushed all at once from every direction on the bushes. With breakneck speed the reflexes of a level 100 rushed into play as Momon slapped an arrow out of the air with a freshly drawn sword.

For the most part though, the others weren't so lucky.

"Aaarrrggghh!" A cry gushed out from behind him.

"Ambush! Defensive circle!" Jeste rallied amongst the momentary confusion.

Before the second volley could be unleashed to cut down the survivors, the members of Fallen Light still standing quickly closed in around Jeste and Momon, weapons drawn and prepared to react to the danger.

Another round of arrows burst forth from the foliage. Both magical and more mundane methods of deflection made light work of such a basic attack though. In quick succession a third wave came and was defeated followed up by a fourth.

Having made their point that further attacks of such a manner were ineffective in their alerted state, there was a pause in the pace of the battle as ambushers were forced to calculate a more effective tactic. After a few moments of held breath in tense battlefield silence, the assailants made their next move.

With little choice left but to close into melee to break the tight formation, the men from the bushes came out to reveal themselves.

The men that emerged looked surprisingly little different from adventurers, so much so that Ainz had to quickly consider the possibility it was a team sent from another guild, the one in the empire perhaps, but that notion was quickly crossed from his mind.

The vicious looks on the faces of these young men were not those of adventurers, the held all the ferocity of the department manager when he called Suzuki to his office to ask him to work more overtime.

Suzuki Satoru had once thought himself a man who had seen the true face of evil, and today he got more of glance of that evil.

Amongst them was one far more sinister in appearance. He was slender man, lightly armoured in dark greens and dark leathers with a leather cap that flopped back behind the back of his neck and down over his ears. His rough goatee came down into a single spike under his chin that just helped his thin face look even more snake-like.

The gear he carried, his thin light armour and a sword short that was of little use for blocking, helped Momon quickly identify the man as a rogue type fighter. As the other ambushers followed his lead towards them there was not in the slightest any attempt to hide his position amongst them. He was clearly something of their leader.

With that in mind, Momon had just a single question to ask.

"Are you the one known as Rastil?" Momon asked.

"Sorry, but the boss doesn't have time to be dealing with the riff raff the guild wants to keep sending after him." Holding out the point of his sword to the huddled party, he tiled his head smugly. "My name is Gactieve and you better remember it will. Pray to your lucky stars tonight because today one of you gets to live, the only question remaining is if you wanna pick... or shall I?"

4


End file.
